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Bournemouth by Night

We wanted to encourage decision-makers in the town to stop thinking about the evening and night time as being a source of trouble and instead consider it as a source of delight; providing a positive cultural offer, supporting the visitor economy and attracting investment.

We engaged a wide variety of stakeholders, including taxi-drivers, students, bar-owners, the police, cabaret-performers, health professionals, DJs and lighting designers to understand what the town meant to each of them. Using a series of collaborative workshops, we helped form a vision for what the town could be and should be after dark. Using imaginative graphic techniques, we brought these ideas to life.

Our implementation plan placed planning policy and development management into a toolkit of place-making measures alongside policing, licensing and traffic regulation. Previously, these practices had been seen as being largely independent of one another but we showed how a mutually supportive approach has the potency to deliver a much better evening and night time experience across the town.

The final report is now being used to inform the delivery of the Town Centre Area Action Plan. One of our recommendations was the creation of a new shared-space civic square at a key junction in the town centre. This has now been completed on site.

Our team at Feria Urbanism was appointed to conduct a follow-up piece of research, to help understand the unique offer from town centre businesses. The research results will inform a future city-branding and place-identity strategies.